Treason trial books off sick
2003-09-02 14:40
Pretoria - The Boeremag treason trial was delayed yet again in the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday, this time by the ill health of two defence counsel.
Judge Eben Jordaan postponed the case to next Tuesday after being told that Harry Prinsloo had bronchitis and Rudi Lubbe pneumonia.
The trial, due to have started on May 19, has been postponed several times due to wrangling over legal aid and an array of applications by the defence.
Jordaan has turned down three applications to date - one contesting the jurisdiction of the court, another for the recusal of chief prosecutor Paul Fick, and the third for a separation of trials.
The court was in the middle of hearing the fourth application - brought by three of the accused for the discontinuance of the trial against them.
Brothers Mike and Andre du Toit and Jacobus (Rooikoos) du Plessis claim the State bolstered its case after reading a privileged document seized from their prison cell containing their defence.
They claim this infringed on their constitutional rights and rendered their trial unjust.
Mike du Toit was to have re-entered the witness stand on Tuesday.
The case was postponed a week earlier to give him an opportunity to study the docket after he was unable to comply with a request from Fick to list each instance in which he claimed the State's case had been altered.
Several more applications are expected to be brought by the defence before the trial can ultimately get under way.
The next will be brought in the High Court on Wednesday by 14 trialists claiming they are being terrorised by "black" music in Pretoria's C-Max prison.
They are to ask the court to order prison management to stop subjecting them to general radio broadcasts and allow them instead to listen to their own radios.
Also pending is an application by two counsel representing 13 of the men for a review of a Legal Aid Board decision to pay them the same fee as other lawyers representing only one client.
Applications are also expected to be brought by a trialist who claims his former lawyer shared privileged information with the State, and by another who claims to be suffering victimisation in prison.
Claims of bugging in prison are expected to form the basis for yet another defence application.
On Tuesday, defence counsel expressed fears that the State might be hiding certain information, and asked that it disclose all documents in its possession.
Piet Pistorius, for 13 of the men, said his clients feared the prosecution might renege on its duty to disclose information that was beneficial to the defence.
Fick, however, said the defence had access to everything the State had. He denied the prosecution had any hidden agenda.
The 22 men stand accused of plotting to overthrow the government as members of the rightwing Boeremag organisation, with the aim of declaring a "Boer" republic.
They face 42 charges, including murder, attempted murder, high treason, and a range of violations of arms, ammunition and explosives laws.
- SAPA